


Lemon Zest

by Melime



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Allergies, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-31
Updated: 2018-01-31
Packaged: 2019-03-11 21:33:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,013
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13532976
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Melime/pseuds/Melime
Summary: An allergic reaction nearly kills Rodney, but John is there to take care of him.





	Lemon Zest

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Português brasileiro available: [Raspas de Limão](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13532982) by [Melime GreenLeaf (Melime)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Melime/pseuds/Melime%20GreenLeaf)



Rodney gagged, struggling to breath. He opened his jacket with one hand, trying to alleviate the suffocating sensation he felt, but it did him no good. The familiar tingling along with the swelling could only mean one thing, but he couldn’t force the words to come out, couldn’t ask for the help that he needed. He tried to reach to John, who was sitting across the table from him, trying to convey what was happening.

John jumped from his seat, calling a med team on his radio. Rodney didn’t do anything to oppose him when John helped him lay on the ground, and by the time John was patting his pockets in search of an epi-pen that Rodney knew wasn’t there, Rodney’s vision was darkening around the corners, and he passed out.

\---

When he woke up in the infirmary, his head was throbbing. He tried to speak, but his voice failed.

“Hey there, buddy.” John came in his line of sight, placing a hand on his bed. “Don’t try to speak. Do you want some water?”

Rodney nodded, and John helped him sit up, holding a cup of water to his lips. Swallowing hurt more than he expected, but the cold water also brought some relief. He gestured with a hand that he was done, and John helped him settle back on the pillows.

“You really did scare us there, buddy. Dr. Beckett said this was the worst allergic reaction he had ever seen.”

Rodney started to ask what happened, and was frustrated when no sound came out. He tried to compensate by gesticulating, but it was a hard concept to convey by mimic.

“I told you not to try to speak.” John took a pad from the desk beside Rodney’s bed. “Here, I brought your computer.”

Rodney quickly opened a text editor. ‘What happened?’

John unconsciously closed his hands into fists. “There was a… contamination, some lemon zest mixed in the chili.”

That didn’t make any sense, Rodney knew well enough that all the personnel in Atlantis was informed of his allergy, because he made sure of it. In fact, he felt so sure of that that he didn’t even carry an epi-pen with him in Atlantis anymore, only when they were off-world. That, along with John’s reaction, made him think that there was something more about this story.

‘How?’ he wrote.

John huffed. “It was Lasky. He came in the Daedalus two days ago. I’ve… talked to him, and he confessed he did it on purpose.”

‘Why???’ Rodney wrote, shaking the pad for emphasis.

John looked uncomfortable. “He said he thought you were an arrogant prick, and he wanted to teach you a lesson.”

‘So he tried to kill me?’ he wrote, then quickly erased, but not fast enough for John not to see. He tossed the pad further down the bed. He knew he was an unlikable jerk, of course, and he was accustomed to people hating him, but trying to kill him?

“He said he didn’t know your reaction would be so severe, I don’t think he was trying to hurt you. It doesn’t matter, he’ll be going back to Earth tomorrow.”

Somehow, that just made things worse. He had almost died, and it had been mostly an accident, even if a malicious one. And even worst was the fact he didn’t doubt for one second that someone might hate him enough to want to kill him, and that said a lot about who he was. He retrieved the pad to write, ‘Was I that awful to him?’

His mind went spiraling down that path, thinking about all he did that might constitute enough reason for someone to do something like that. Even though killing him wasn’t the plan, or so he said, poisoning someone is taking a risk of killing that person, especially when you don’t know how that person will react. He hated how vulnerable he always felt after an allergic reaction, betrayed by his own body, and having that happen because someone intentionally poisoned him…

John must have seen something in his expression, or perhaps in the fact he didn’t even try to belittle the man who put him in that situation, because the next thing Rodney realized was John climbing in the tiny bed, squeezing in next to him and placing his arms around Rodney. If he had been better, he would have made a cutting comment about how only John could possibly think a bed that size was big enough for two. Instead, he found himself holding on to John, hiding his face on his chest, and told himself it was only so he wouldn’t fall from the bed.

“It’s ok, Rodney, it’s going to be ok,” he said, moving his hand soothingly on Rodney’s back. “I’m not going to let this happen again. From now on I’m going to personally brief every new arrival on your allergy, and I’ll talk to Weir about banning citrus from the city altogether.”

Rodney huffed, and smiled faintly, even though John couldn’t see him. He very much doubted Elizabeth would go along with that, and the reason for that was that he had tried making the same request in the past, only to be ignored. However, it has harder to think about how close he had come of dying when John held him like this. He pulled himself closer, and John responded by tightening his hold.

Rodney thought to himself that John was only comforting him, as a good friend would do, but he knew how particular John was about touch, and to be honest, he wasn’t entirely sure he could imagine him doing that for one of his other friends, but that could be some unfounded hope talking. He would have to think about that some other time. For that moment, he would take that for face value, and simply accept it as a form of comfort. The way he felt in that moment was something he wanted to commit to memory, in case he would never get the chance to be in John’s arms again.


End file.
